Dear Monkey

Dear Monkey,

It seems you hit the 5 month marker and started to try out everything at once.

That sleep regression phase quickly passed. All I have to say is, Thank you! You still wake up around 5:15 most mornings, but you're pretty quiet and most of the times you fall back asleep, eventually. The last few days I've come in to get you in the morning and you've rolled over to your stomach. Starting this past weekend, that's all you do. You've known how to roll over for a few months now, but all of the sudden you've realized you can get things out of reach and go places (though not far) if you flip around. But unless you're occupied by something, you realize you don't really like being on your stomach (you never have) and start to fuss because you can't remember how to flip back.

Begin to fuss... now you are turning into your father. Your little personality is coming through more and more everyday. And we've seen that if something doesn't go right at first or you can't hang onto a toy or reach it, you get frustrated very easily and start to fuss or cry. Sigh. I'll have two of you in the house now.

You've also started a few weeks ago having stranger anxiety. If it's not someone you see everyday, you start to cry the second they step too close or try to take you from our arms. Eventually you warm up to them, like with Uncle Dave, and start to play with them. Which coincides with the Mommy Mommy phase. The second I walk out of view, you do a crunch and lift your head to see where I went. And if I'm not there, you start to cry. I'm flattered, Baby. But sometimes I have things to get done, and you're starting to get a little heavy to carry on my hip all the time. By the end of every weekend now, my lower back is in quite a lot of pain. But you're too cute, so I deal with it.

You are in LOVE with carrots, boy! You're getting half a jar twice a day. And we can't feed it to you fast enough. Before I can get the spoon back into the bowl to scoop out more, you're asking for it. And the second the spoon comes to your mouth you lean forward with your mouth open. And then when you're eating it, you say, "mmMMmmm, ummm ummm."

You think you're such a big boy and are insisting on growing up way too fast. I thought it would be funny to let you drink some water from my glass last week while I was holding you. You loved it and kept reaching for more. Now every time someone has a glass of whatever, you reach and grunt to have some. I guess we won't have any problems transitioning you off the bottle.

You've also discovered how to move an object from one hand to the other. Sometimes you do it so often you get excited and then throw the object across the room. Oh, and you love to drop stuff so we pick it up, but if we're sitting on the couch or floor and you drop something, you love to bend over and try to pick it up yourself. And if you can't reach or grab it--see the section above about getting frustrated.

You're tons of fun, Monkey! You're starting to sit on your own a little bit when playing with stuff on the floor. I'm sure in a few weeks you won't need any help at all or someone to act as a bumper behind you to bounce off of to sit right back up.

Thanks for always keeping us entertained. We love you!

*Mommy